shopping for an ak-47?

dont buy a wasr 10 from dunhams. thats what they have for 399. i have a dunhams close to me and i went and looked at them. they had 4 and all of them had crooked sights. the bolts felt like crap and the finish was terrible. plus two of them were single stack 10 rounders :( [they were only 299]

the one at atlantic firearms looks like the GP1975 from century. i would buy that. especially since it says it comes with five 30 round mags. thats a good deal. mags are worth 10 a piece easy. that makes the rifle 375 (cheaper than dunhams) and its not been neutered with no bayonet lug and welded muzzle break threads

Atlantic firearms has reputation they are fine to buy through. You will still need to do the paperwork through a local dealer. In order to comply with 922r (foreign assault rifle import ban) an assault rifle must have no more than 10 foreign made parts, an AK 47 consists of 16 parts therefore whatever brand you get it will have some American parts to it.

Major player on the field right now is the Romanian WASR. It is mostly mil spec. with the exception of absence of dimples on magazine well and side scope mount rail.

Another quite popular option is the SAIGA. It is made entirely in Russia by Izhmash (same factory that makes military AKs). The reason they are allowed to be imported is that there are a few cosmetic differences with their military counterparts and are marketed as sporting rifles and not assault rifles. Functionally though they are identical. Many choose to buy the Saiga, then spend a couple of hundred bucks converting it back to a true AK. I took the saiga route myself. Arsenal arms and Red Jacket arms do this and sell converted ones already.

AKs nowdays will go anywhere from 400 to a 1000 $400 will land you a WASR.

And never go for Chinese ones.

if you want a Real AK47, go for a Norinco, Type 56 semiautomatic MAK90 rifle. this is one of the two real AK47's in the US. the other one is the North Vietnamese AK47, extremely rare and only becasue a few american Vietnam veterans brought them back from the war. both are semiautomatic conversions of real AK47 assault rifles. the difference between a AK47 and an AKM is mainly its receiver, the AK47 is heavier and features a milled steel receiver. its more study and accurate. the AKM uses a stamped receiver made of thin steel steel. AKMs are typically less precise but also lighter than an AK47.

there are a few AK47 manufactures in the United States, making AK's with milled receivers. Firingline is one, Arsenal is the other.

the Vast majority of AK rifles in the US are actually AKM-type.

there's nothing really wrong with an AKM besides its not an AK47.

the cheapest ones are the WASR-10, made in Romania as a semiautomatic sporting rifle. made of military surplus AKM parts. starts at $300, not worth over $450. these often has manufacturing defects, inaccuracy, poor assembly or canted sights. you need to inspect the rifle before buying. if you get a good one there's really nothing wrong with it.

There's Polish, and Bulgarian, and all other kinds of AKM rifles better than the WASR and also more expensive becasue you're less likely to buy a crap rifle.

there are two kinds of Norinco AK47s, one of hte most populous MAK90, an AK47 or AKM made for semiautomatic sporting use. the other is a real chinese military AK47 Type 56 rifle with semiautomatic fire control parts put in it and sold as a civilian sporting rifle. the Type 56 is very valuable and hard to find,. its also perhaps hte best AK rifle you can own in the United States.

There's also the newer AK10x series with new, modernized design changes. most of them are in 5.45 or 5.56, there's one in 7.62x39, its lighter, more accurate, balanced, polymer parts,and more reliable than ever. also pricey- about $1200.

check out J&G sales too, they sell alot of AK rifles.

http://www.jgsales.com/index.php/rifles/ak-pattern...

be aware that besides new US manufacture AK47s, there are no other AK47's being imported to the US right now. all the AK types being imported are actually AKM rifles wit ha stamped receiver.

This Site Might Help You.

RE:

shopping for an ak-47?

i'm shopping for an ak-47. what i'm wonding is whats really the differnce between them. i'm not looking for the most accurate weapon in the world. so here is exactly what i'm looking for.

1. reliability. i know the original AK was one of if not the most reliable gun ever. i want...

A pawn shop that sells guns operates like an actual gun store. When stupid people sell there guns to a pawn shop for 1/20th of what they are actually worth the pawn shop has to run the serial through the NICS to see if it was reported. If it was stolen both you and the pawn broker can legally file suit against the individual who brought it in. It would be kept as evidence but you would eventually get it back.

Norinco Type 56 For Sale

Not at all a loaded. You raise some very good questions.

A majority of what you see for $399 will be Romanian WASR's. Due to import restrictions, companies (mainly Century International) imports these rifles and re-assembles them on American-made receivers, so as to be 922r-compliant. I have little experience with them, but I'll let other people chime in on the WASRs.

Romanian AKs aren't normally sought after for being high-quality. As you mentioned, the Russian ones and Chinese ones are known for being of good quality, the Chinese being the MAK-90. As for the Russian ones, you won't find a run-of-the-mill Russian AK anywhere for cheap. However, newly-built Saiga rifles are imported into the US and Arsenal is one of the companies that re-assembles these rifles with American-made components on the Russian receiver to keep them compliant with all rules and regulations. That's about the only way you'll get a Russian-made AK these days.

If you're looking for the highest quality ones out there, I think we're all in agreement that Arsenal makes some of the best out there.

http://www.arsenalinc.com/calibers762.htm

(and the ones with SAIGA in the name utilize the Russian-made receivers).

It's really hard to go wrong with any of them, be it Polish, Czechoslovakian, Yugoslavian or otherwise. The AK is a design that's fairly hard to screw up.

Also check out http://classicarms.us/ . They have a nice selection of anything AK and are good people to deal with. JG Sales as well... http://www.jgsales.com/index.php/rifles/ak-pattern...

-edit/update-

As for what Greg said below, if you want a fun project, do look into the "Saiga conversion". I myself also chose that route, and it was certainly fun doing the conversion. Just look up "Saiga 7.62x39 conversion" if you're interested in this. It'll take the gun from looking like this: http://www.raacfirearms.com/images/p_saiga.jpg to looking like this: http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQwVG-6g7G... Just be sure to use at least 5 American-made replacement parts to keep the rifle 922r-compliant (and if you do the conversion, it should be easy to do so).

You cant go wrong with the Romanian wasr-10, I currently own 2 of them, they are cheap and good rifles, they will eat any ammo you throw at them and they have standard ak accuracy. Check gunbroker.com for a good deal on one.

I have an arsenal. it'll set you back about $700. The wasr's sometimes have crooked sights and other problems. I wouldn't advise getting a cheap one like. They're cheap for a reason.

That price is a very good price im looking at one for 550$